*Original recipe note: Be sure and taste during cooking and add more of this or that!

1. Wash and pick over the kidney beans.

2. Soak beans overnight in enough water to cover. Drain in morning.

3. Add salt pork and ham hocks and more water to cover and cook on medium heat for 1 ½ hours or until beans are beginning to soften – add more water if necessary.

4. Add vegetables, spices and sausages (if you’re suing the browned Italian sausages, don’t add these now – wait another hour). Cook at least for two more hours after adding vegetable – uncovered. I usually start cooking this late in the afternoon then cook it pretty much continuously until I go to bed.

5. Turn off stove, cover the pot and let it sit out overnight.

This is a 2 ½ day ordeal – soak it one night, prepare it the next night and serve it on the third night. I don’t refrigerate it at all until the third night.

6. Cook it for a couple hours more the next morning on low – before serving on the third night. If I’m home, I cook it on and off all that day especially if I need to boil off some liquid.